Tag Archives: AHT

Shares that like December

The following table lists the five FTSE 350 shares that have the best returns in December over the last ten years. For example, G4S has an average return of 6.3% for the month of December. All stocks, except Ashtead, have risen in every December for the past ten years.

Shares that dislike December

The following table lists the two FTSE 350 shares that have the worst returns in December over the last ten years. For example, Rank Group has an average return of -4.2% for the month of December. Both stocks have fallen in seven of the past ten years in December.

An equally-weighted portfolio of the above strong December stocks would have out-performed every year, except 2008, an equally-weighted portfolio of the above weak December stocks by an average of 10.1 percentage points in December for the past ten years.

Shares that like September

The following table lists the five FTSE 350 shares that have the best returns in September over the last ten years. For example, Diploma has an average return of 6.3% for the month of September. Each stock has risen in at least eight of the past ten years in September – Diploma is the only stock in the FTSE 350 whose shares have risen nine times in September in the past ten years.

Shares that dislike September

The following table lists the five FTSE 350 shares that have the worst returns in September over the last ten years. For example, Premier Farnell has an average return of -8.0% for the month of September. All five stocks have fallen in at least eight of the past ten years in September; Premier Farnell is the only stock in the FTSE 350 whose shares have fallen nine times in September in the past ten years.

Strategy

An equally-weighted portfolio of the above strong September stocks would have out-performed an equally-weighted portfolio of the above weak September stocks by an average of 12.3 percentage points in September for the past ten years.

The 2013 edition of the Almanac looks at the historic monthly performance of the FTSE 350 sectors. Here we look at the Support Services sector.

The following chart plots the average out-performance of the FTSE 350 Support Services sector over the FTSE 100 Index by month since 1999. For example, since 1999 on average the sector has out-performed the FTSE 100 Index by 1.2 percentage points in January.

Observations:

The strongest months have been January and December – the sector has under-performed the market only four times in December in the last 14 years.

The weakest month has been July – the sector has out-performed the market only four times in July in the last 14 years.